Congress hits back at BJP over Ishrat case

The Congress on Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah over the Ishrat Jahan case, accusing them of “obstructing” judicial process and taking to “patent falsehoods”.

“The PM and the BJP president are shamelessly misleading the country and obstructing judicial process by blocking trial of accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case pending in a court in Ahmedabad,” Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.

He said Mr Modi and Mr Shah must tell the country the real motive behind the “desperation” to shut down the trial. “What is it that they seek to hide or are scared of needs to be placed before the nation Is there some evidence available on that file of the court that goes against somebody very senior in the leadership of the BJP which is scaring Amit Shah and Modi ” he asked.

He alleged the Modi government is using a “web of selective news leaks, deceptive statements of its ministers and non-grant of sanction for prosecution of the accused to ensure mistrial and reinvestigation through pliable investigating agencies”.

“The Modi government is not only economical with the truth, but is also relying upon patent falsehood to hide the facts,” Mr Surjewala said, hitting back at the BJP which accused it of aiding a “conspiracy to eliminate Modi” and claimed Congress president Sonia Gandhi “worked actively” on it. He said the Modi government seeks to “falsely hide” behind the language of pleadings before the high court to ensure no trial takes place and truth does not come out. “This itself makes the motive of the PM, BJP chief and their ministers clearly suspect,” he said. “The Ishrat case has no connection to the then Congress government in any manner,” he said, adding findings have been recorded in a judicial probe of the encounter by the Ahmedabad metropolitan court after examining proof.